I'm a longtime lurker on this board, and this is my first trip report after four visits to St. John. Just got home late Thursday night (10/12) after a week in St. John. Our group consisted of four couples who stayed at L'Esprit de la Vie (sp?) and another couple who lives on St. John. The house was great - nice to have four bedrooms all the same (king bed, private bath) so nobody feels slighted.

Our first full day, we started with Leinster Bay and Waterlemon Key. Four of us got there first, and we snorkeled around the key. Very nice, but not as nice as just a year ago. Saw a turtle, a ray, a few starfish and pretty many fish.
Then the others joined us, but only one of them snorkeled. Another one of them wasn't happy with the long walk, noting often how nice it would have been to have our nice, full cooler with us. So after that, we went to Maho Bay, where we could have the cooler nearby and not even have to take it out of the truck! Of course the snorkelers were not too happy, but they already had snorkeled, so that was ok.

Other beaches we visited, in no particular order because I get the days confused, include Reef Bay, or it might have been Fish Bay, or it might have been something else entirely. Anyway, it's on the south side, and I've never been to any of those beaches before. It was quite rough and not too sandy, so it wasn't a crowd pleaser. I, for one, liked the beach just fine, but the walk back up the hill was a bit much for me.

We also went to Francis Bay, which was a new one for me. I liked it very much. It had a crowd-pleasing combination of sandy beach, good snorkeling, and cooler convenience.

As has become our usual, we visited Trunk Bay one day after 4 p.m., when the crowds were down but still enough light to snorkel. We were quite surprised at the state of the reef. Again, not nearly as vibrant as just a year ago.

We spent a lot of time at Cinnamon Bay one day, where my husband finally achieved his goal of seeing a decent shark - in this case a five-footer. Maybe a lemon shark? He knew what it was, but I can't recall Some of our group went to Hawksnest, but the others and I passed on that.

One day, we went to a very cool beach somewhere on the east end, but I can't remember the name of it for the life of me. The beach wasn't much, but the snorkeling was cool. We left when someone noted that we had parked on private property. It was out past Skinny Legs, which I remember because that's where we went for lunch.

On our last day, we went to Caneel Bay. I never had gone because I wasn't quite sure how it worked with the hotel rules and all that. But we had an excellent lunch at the beach bar then went to the beach from there. The rule, as most of you probably know, is that you can park at the hotel and visit the beach, you just can't use the chairs. Very nice beach. We snorkeled there and I finally saw an octopus for the first time, so that was cool.

On Monday, we rented a boat and went to the BVI. After checking in to customs at Tortola, we snorkeled at the Indians. Well, everyone but me. The current was very strong, so I decided to wear a life jacket. That was my mistake - it kept coming up around my neck and I hated it. So I bailed, but everybody else seemed to enjoy the snorkeling. Then we went to Norman Island and Willy T.'s, followed by snorkeling the caverns. That reef looked about as good as it did the last time we were there. Then we finished up at Jost Van Dyke, which we visited for the first time last year. (By the way, the use of "we" refers to different groups of people at different times. Last year's trip, for example, was just me, my husband and our two kids.)

As for restaurants and the like, we had breakfast at J.J.'s once, which is good but not great, appetizers at the Beach Bar, dinner at Polli's once, and I think I found a new favorite in Margarita Phil's. We also went to the place with the miniature golf course - I can't remember the name. That was a very cool place - great view, nice menu, nice bar, nice people. I met the owner and he was nice too.

We really didn't do much shopping except for souvenirs, and we pretty much knew what we were going to get and where we would get it before we even got on the island.

The weather was perfect. A couple of early-morning and evening showers, but it rained only once while we were out and about, a brief shower the day we were at Cinnamon Bay. All in all, it was an excellent trip, but then again, all four trips have been, and we'll be back for more!